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heaven4lostgirls · 11 months

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Part two to your general kirigan x grisha!fem!reader please 🙏🏼

Act like you love me

General Kirigan x reader

a/n: hii!! This is a lot longer than I thought it would be however I’m not mad at it!! I hope you enjoy<3

General Kirigan needed to find a way to get you back, but having you understand his plan for power was near the bottom of his list as he needed to gain the trust of Alina Starkov and put his year long plan in motion. His anger was palpable as he saw you helping Alina’s tracker friend through the castle, he was jealous that even if you were just being polite that Mal was able to hear your voice whilst all you ever gave him was a firm nod.

As you passed by General Kirigan you nodded your head and watched as he clenched his jaw, some part of you felt some sick satisfaction that he hated seeing you with anyone else as much as you hated seeing him with Alina.

Talking to Mal didn’t pain you as much as you thought it would, you had both realised that you had both lived at the same orphanage that Alina and him came from only a few years older than him. You two spoke of Keramzin and how odd it was at the Little Palace since you both were never used to such royalty.

Kirigan watched as a smile spread across your face in the middle of an animated conversation with Mal as you both waited for Alina to finish changing in order for him to speak with her.

Jealousy flooded his body as he felt his eyes sharpen into a glare, almost as if you felt his stare you turned around to look at him in an almost doll like confused manner.

His eyebrows furrow as he glares at Mal and suddenly it clicks with you that he’s jealous of the tracker. You almost giggle at how comical that a thousand year old dark heretic is jealous over a mundane tracker.

You realize you could have fun with this and make your way to the ballroom where everyone is conversing and introduce Mal to the important people and make sure to mention that he is ‘important’, to you or to destroying the fold? you never explain and They don’t question you.

Kirigan is slowly losing his patience as he watches you parade Mal around as if you two are together, he resists the urge to have his shadows choke the living daylights out of Mal’s innocent expression.

You’re fighting to smirk everytime you see Kirgans shadows wrap around his clenched fists and Mal seems to notice somethings up before he has to leave to meet Alina, he glances between you and a currently glaring Kirigan and makes the cheeky move to kiss your cheek and scurry away as he watches Kirigan stomp over, abandoning his conversation with someone probably important.

“Y/N” his voice sounds as soft and gentle as the times he murmured it in your ear as he held you face.

“Kirigan” you nod at him before you make a move to walk away from him. His heart broke hearing his last name leave your mouth, it was always Aleksander with him, never Kirigan.

“Don’t- don’t do that y/n, call me Aleksander again, please. Let me be yours again please my love” his voice is calm and collected but only you could hear the underlying desperation under it.

“You chose Alina General, I cannot fault you for that but in doing so you have to know that I will never be second choice to-“

“Stop. You’re never second choose y/n, you are my first, last and everything inbetween. Alina is a means to and end please do not mistake our alliance for anything more than it is, an alliance”

You scoff as you hear the words leave his mouth.

“An alliance Kirigan? Is that what you told Zoya was happening when you would summon me to your chambers at all hours of the night, like a little lapdog waiting at your beck and call, is that what I am to you? An alliance?” You hiss at him, pure venom dripping off your tongue.

“Listen to me y/n, I will love heaven and earth for you, my heart beats for you. Don’t let this be the end of us, you know that I care for you y/n. God dammit I love you!” His voice raises the slightest bit in frustration and it’s enough to have a few guests turn around to see what’s happening but he waves them off with a cool smirk and nod before he turns his dark eyes back to you.

“Love? Kirigan I-“

“Tell me you don’t love me and I will leave you alone”

“I-“

“Tell me your heart does not beat for me as mine does for you, tell me you care not of whether I die trying to tear down the fold. Tell me now”

“I can’t” it’s whispered, soft spoken.

“I love you Aleksander” and suddenly you are being pulled by your arm to the map room where he places you on a table to press his lips to yours.

“You are the reason my blood continues to flow through my veins” he mutters as his forehead leans against yours.

#juliwrites #shadow and bone angst #ben barnes #general kirigan angst #general kirigan x reader #general kirigan #aleksander morozova #ben barnes angst #ben barnes x reader #aleksander x y/n #aleksander Kirigan x reader

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romantichopelessly · 1 year

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Shadow and Bone Season 2 Final Thoughts

I am going to split this into a SaB section and a SoC section, since I have very different thoughts on them.

Shadow and Bone

The Malina this season was EXCELLENT. Good stuff, excellent changes made on the front of Mal’s insane jealousy and miscommunication.

Gibson’s Nikolai was. So perfect?? I loved so much about him. He was just the right amount of dutiful and roguish, and I loved him.

Genya carried this season. The acting was so well done and always moving. She got the most tears out of me this season. Her confrontation with the queen & that scene in the last episode really got me.

No “I am not ruined. I am ruination.” Which was severely disappointing. I’m genuinely surprised it wasn’t there, because they kept in characters calling her ruined.

Tamar/Nadia were in just the perfect amount. They got crumbs in the book so I’m glad they at least got something here.

GenyaDavid was CARRYING this season. Every scene with those two was so heartachy. I cannot believe they moved up David’s death. But I’m not mad at it.

No “I am become a blade”. Honestly kind of glad for this kind of disappointed. It was funny as hell but also it would have been out of place so.

No Oncat???? Unforgivable omission.

Zoya deserved a bit more this season. Part of me felt like they shouldn’t have brought her in on the Shu Han side quest because she did so little there. She just felt like another body. Which she didn’t deserve.

The ending. Was so much and so much change that I have mixed feelings about. But props on them for taking the initiative to change that much.

Alina’s ending. I’m glad she didn’t have to lose her powers. While the epilogue with her running her fingers through sunlight she cannot bend is heartbreakingly good, I always disliked that ending for her. She deserved more than just a powerless domestic life because she wanted more. Yes she wanted to be able to be with Mal and be free, and I want that for her, but it shouldn’t have been at the cost of her powers.

Mal becoming a privateer is. I’m unsure of how I feel about it right now. It feels odd, because Mal has always said he only wants a calm life with Alina. But I get why they’re giving him this open ending, so they can continue. Which, by the last scene, they obviously plan to continue the SaB side of things into a King of Scars type story.

Nikolai’s ending. I am SO glad they went ahead and showed signs of his demon side. It honestly was good that they didn’t have him turn earlier in the season, because it would have felt cramped with everything else, especially when we just met him.

I do think Alina and Nikolai continuing the engagement is weird though. Why would they do that? How will it affect any possible future next season, especially if they’re going in KoS territory, with Zoyalai?

Six of Crows

Starting with the positives here: Nina CARRIED the crows this season. She was perfect. Annoyed with Kaz from the start. EXCELLENT with Inej and with Jesper a bit.

Similarly, the Helnik was perfect and heartbreaking. Just the right pacing even with the changes. They broke me. And the last scene of them actually killed me, I think.

For episodes 1&2 all I could think about with Wylan was how well they were capturing him. Just the right amount of genuine kindness and naïveté and snark.

I liked how they upped the violence for the crows. Everyone got to get a hit in. Kaz was a great step up in ruthlessness. Inej grew, and Nina actually got to use her powers effectively. And Wylan got some good shots in.

Episode 4 really threw me off with the crows though. I cannot believe that they added a scene from the last 100 pages of Crooked Kingdom to this season. Before the Ice Court. Kaz finishing off Pekka is the end of his arc. How on earth are they going to have him do the actions that it takes to get through the Ice Court Heist if he isn’t working to gain power and tear down Rollins?

Obviously they’re setting up Rollins to come back and be a threat again but how will that work?? He knows who Nina is. The CK heist hinges on Van Eck and Rollins not knowing who Nina is.

Wesper getting together actually made me feel dread as I watched it. I view the show and books as very separate, that’s how I enjoy them, but I couldn’t wrap my head around how they thought this was a good idea beyond fan service. Having Wesper together right off the bat ruins both of their character arcs. If they’re together before their growth, none of it means anything. Even in the show, to make it work, they had to fast track two very important reveals for them.

I was fine with Jesper’s Durast powers being revealed this season. I even expected it. I thought Inej and Kaz would find out, or say they knew this season. And maybe Jesper would use his powers in secret. But no. Everyone knew by the end of the season, and he barreled through self acceptance in like 3 episodes. WITHOUT A SINGLE COLM APPEARANCE. Do you get how bad that is?? Colm is integral to Jesper’s shame, and he didn’t even show up, and though I like the scene with his mom in theory, how will Jesper and Colm have any good tension now? How will SoC and CK even work if Jesper has already solved the biggest source of his self esteem issues AND his gambling problem?

Which, by the way, insanely weird his addiction didn’t really come up this season. It was mentioned once or twice but really had no effect on his character. Which. Addiction doesn’t turn on and off.

Wylan’s illiteracy came out way too soon as well. He didn’t really get a chance to prove himself before Jesper found out, which. I can’t even articulate now why I hate that so much. I’ll have to make a separate post.

Back to Wesper speedrun. We can’t have so many critical Wesper scenes because of this. No “not just girls”. No Kuwei kiss, unless it’s a huge stretch in miscommunication when they’re already dating. No “I was paying attention” when Genya tailors Wylan because of course it’s not a surprise he knows his face if they’re dating.

Another one of my favorite scenes that won’t work now: The Kaz and Jesper Big Fight. Jesper knows who Jordie is already. It loses all tension.

Inej’s ending also really bothered me. Her having freedom and starting her hunt for slavers BEFORE the Ice Court? I genuinely don’t see how they can make the ICH work at this point. How will these characters ever come back together? Why would Inej come back? Just because Jurda Parem was an issue? Because if so, I feel they’ll be leaning too much into the Crows being pawns of the crown, which ultimately destroys their purpose. They aren’t chosen ones in ANY CAPACITY. Yes, Inej may do things for more moral reasons, but in the end she doesn’t work for the crown. Because of how they treat the Suli, especially.

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goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 10 months

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dual-part fic prompt: first a moment where nikolai ran across the darkling as a little boy, potentially even a scene where he'd broken into his private rooms and was hiding or something, and then a moment where he's mocking nikolai sometime circa R&R or KOS just before the monster takes over again (can be real or a hallucination)

Not the exact same concept but I was already working on a one shot with vaguely similar elements! Pre KoS I had a lot of thoughts about the Darkling resurfacing as basically a voice in Nikolai’s head. So I’m leaning into that with this.

***

At first, Nikolai thinks he is going mad. Ever since that fateful night, where he plummeted from the sky, still more monster than man, the Darkling’s power rapidly fading from him, but not quickly enough, he’s felt it. There’s an ice in his chest, always with him, an invasive presence chilling him to the bone. There are thoughts, urges, he doesn’t quite understand, that don’t quite feel like his own. When he dreams, even his nightmares aren’t fully his.

He might dream of meat, of sprouting talons and wings again, of losing sanity and taking flight. Or see his family dying at that last wretched dinner in his honor, gruesome memories from the army, from his time at sea. Those things are horrible, but they’re familiar. They’re not foreign things lodged into his mind.

Other nights though, he dreams of traveling endlessly, changing names with every village and city, always looking over his shoulder for fear of being discovered. Of hands holding him underwater, in an iced over lake. But in the most frequent dreams, he is only terrified of being alone in the all-consuming dark.

Then there are the dreams of Alina. Her hands, her neck, the feel of her. The way her face betrays her every single emotion. And the collar. Always the collar. Mine, a quiet, resentful voice whispers to him. She should have been mine. Mine to shape, mine to guide. My balance. My right.

It would be simpler to call it madness. But of course, Nikolai would never have such good fortune.

He’d hoped it— whatever it was— would go away with time, that it was just a matter of readjusting to life as a mere mortal again. That it was only the simple business of becoming reacquainted with trivial civilities such as speech, and literacy, and complex thought. But no, even as his monstrous foray feels more and more like a dream, Nikolai continues to feel distinctly altered.

Sobachka, he’ll hear the ghost of the Darkling say in his head. In the dark of night, half-ensared by sleep, when he will not fully remember. Usurper, he calls him. Thief. You foolish, boy-king. Your life is like a flicker of a candle, snuffed out before it’s begun.

The voice persists, grows stronger with each passing day, seeping into his waking moments. A nagging, bitter thing, a wound he cannot help but worry at, and feel it grow even more painful, inflamed.

Sometimes when the nightmares are at their worst, they’ll leave him thrashing in his bed, stumbling out of it with a will he doesn’t fully understand. Sometimes he’ll come to in the halls of the Little Palace, having slipped past multiple sets of guards, and through the wooded tunnel in his sleep. Usually he wakes before he gets too far— after all it’s always the same route, to Alina’s door.

This time, he wakes with his fingers— always stained with black, he still shudders at the sight of them— curled around the cool metal door handle. He recoils, almost stumbles, and he is about to turn away, but then the door opens a crack and he can see her peering out at him.

“Nikolai?” Alina says, voice raspy like she’s been asleep or perhaps crying. He can see the warm glow of lamplight behind her. She’s told him she cannot stand the dark anymore. That makes two of them.

He runs a hand through his hair, not quite fully awake yet. That dreaming urge to be near her still eating at him. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“Is something wrong?”

Tell her you’re pathetic, a drowning child, foolish enough to wade out into the sea. Instead he blinks, tries to smile. “I couldn’t sleep.”

She finally opens the door all the way, gesturing for him to come in. His gaze flickers to the antlers at her neck, the scales at her wrist, and the second fetter, bone white but delicately carved into the shape of talons clasped around her other wrist.

He always wonders if she’d requested that bit of obfuscation, or perhaps David had been feeling artistic. It’s weakness. Even now she refuses to face difficult truths.

She ushers him through the impersonal audience chamber and to the hexagonal bedroom all in shades of black. He wonders idly if she’ll ever change it.

She fusses over him to sit by the fire. He hadn’t realized he was shaking.

“I’d ring for tea,” she says. “But you hate it, and it is unreasonably late.”

“It is an abominable hour isn’t it? I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

She smiles faintly, fetching glasses and a bottle of brandy instead. He takes his own glass gratefully, tries not to spill it. He wonders how drunk he’d have to be before he stops hearing that cool voice in his head, trickling through his own thoughts like meltwater.

It hasn’t quite been a year since the Shadow Fold was destroyed. Since she drove a dagger in the Darkling’s heart to do it.

Nikolai doesn’t remember this part, or well, he shouldn’t remember, he wasn’t back to himself by then. But somehow he knows. The roiling, cold thing, whatever remnant of the Darkling still exists inside him, it remembers. How could I forget? When I was so close to my purpose, so close to lifting this country out of its misery.

After all was said and done, Alina had quietly accompanied him back to the capital. The Saint at his side to bolster his claim. She’d weathered the coronation with him and the chaos of drawing Ravka back from civil war.

But mostly she just sequesters herself in this room and its funerary elegance. He wonders if she likes it because it’s so miserable, or simply because it belonged to the Darkling. It’s a strange shrine to a dead man.

He’d proposed to Alina yet again, after everything, and she’d rejected him firmly enough that he’s resolved that it will be the final time. It had stung though, so much that he doesn’t like to think about it.

Even an orphan girl that comes from nothing will not have you. How humiliating.

Nikolai wants to say, if certain dreams are anything to go by, then it appears you’re in the same boat. But he catches himself before he does.

The most frustrating part of this, beyond the confusion and the unnerving distraction of having a foreign voice nattering in his head, is that more often than not he cannot reply. Nikolai has always been uniquely terrible at keeping his mouth shut. Over the years he’s become very adept at knowing the right thing to say, but simply staying silent is not one of his strengths. It’ll be just what he needs, walking around arguing with an invisible adversary.

He can see it now. Mad King Nikolai, remembered for his good looks and the pesky habit of interrupting nearly every conversation with entirely irrelevant, but admittedly clever, insults.

Alina lets him drink in silence, waiting for him to collect himself long enough to speak.

“There’s something wrong with me,” he says finally, more bluntly than he’d like.

“What do you mean?”

There’s too much open concern in her eyes, startlingly dark next to the rest of her face. This close he can tell that she has been crying. For her tracker no doubt. Wasted tears on an otkazat’sya who was only ever born to die.

He must really look wretched, because she touches his face gently. It’s meant in simple comfort but for a helpless moment he wonders if she’s trying to hurt him.

That’s pity on her face. She sees you for the broken, repulsively frail thing you are. A clock with a missing cog, a puppet with cut strings. Pathetic.

The firelight catches in her pale hair, makes it into a halo. It gleams off the amplifiers too, turning the bone white of them to a warm gold. He doesn’t like the way his eyes keep catching on them. And the place on her shoulder, where beneath the nightdress, he shouldn’t know she has a scar.

He pulls away, looking to the fire, the rest of the room, anything but her.

Despite everything, his wounded pride and his wounded heart, he’s glad now that she knew better than to accept his hand. Perhaps she sensed it somehow. How he is still stained by the Darkling’s mark.

“I’m not entirely certain yet,” he tells her, attempting for a light tone and failing miserably. “There’s a few possibilities, I don’t much like any of them.”

“Well, what are they?”

He remembers, as a child, in his rowdier days before anyone had come close to mastering the art of making him sit through an entire lesson at a time, he’d actually snuck in here. It’s virtually unchanged since then, the same carved forest on the walls, the same chips of pearls on the ceiling. He’d known no tutor would dare to look for him in the storied Darkling’s quarters. And he’d been right.

Unfortunately the room’s occupant himself had the audacity to be there, sitting by the same fireside with a book. Nikolai still remembers how towering the Darkling had seemed to his child’s eyes, gazing down at him with a bemused expression. The smoothness of his gestures nearly uncanny, almost serpentine as he approached him and crouched to nearly eye level.

“Moi tsarevich, it’s an honor,” he’d said, too seriously.

Nikolai had only backed towards the door, unnerved.

“I assume you have very important business.”

He’d nodded. “I snuck a live lizard in tutor Mitkin’s lunch and now he’s very cross with me.”

“Hm, a noble endeavor. Stay out of my way and tutor Mitkin needn’t know where you’ve taken refuge for the moment.”

And then the Darkling had offered him cake.

It’s an odd memory he can’t quite reconcile with everything that came after. Far too ordinary.

Should I have poisoned you? I believe that’s your brother’s wheelhouse though.

“Insanity,” he tells Alina, moving to stand. He feels restless in this confined space. His skin itches, feels too tight, ill fitting and wrong. “Which would certainly be a very interesting way to start a reign.”

Alina lets him pace, watching him quietly. “The other options?”

“A very creative imagination. Rather unlikely, I would say.”

“And?”

“The Darkling has taken up residence in my mind. Somehow.”

“What’s it like?”

“It’s like he’s whispering in my ear. Like I can feel him, taking root inside me.” He still vividly remembers the shadows pouring down his throat. The strange wrenching feeling in those moments before he’d turned into the Darkling’s creature. “Unfortunately he fancies himself a conversationalist.”

“Oh. That sounds unpleasant.”

“It is.” He sits down beside her again. Feeling rather defeated and sorry for himself.

“Aleksander,” she whispers.

And the voice that answers is not his own. “My Alina.”

“I killed you,” she breathes. But she’s also drifting closer, like she wants to touch him— the Darkling, not Nikolai, he knows that— but is afraid to.

“And I’ll haunt you for it.”

Alina takes a shuddering breath. It looks like she might cry again.

He doesn’t expect her to kiss him. He barely feels it, though his body responds regardless, hungry, possessive. At least for now, the Darkling’s voice is blessedly silent.

#ideally I’d edit this but I’m too busy so woo hot mess version instead 💖#I’ll get back to it one day…#grishaverse #shadow and bone #darklina #nikolina #alarkling #darknikolina #kind of?#nikolai lantsov #alina starkov #aleksander morovoza #the darkling #i ramble sometimes #a string of words #all the bendy punctuations #*writer’s cap*#silence

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koroleva-nazyalensky · 1 year

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I have my grievances with season 2, sure, but one thing they did do is conclude it in a way that I personally would have loved the Grisha Trilogy to have ended the first time around.

Like obviously, I would’ve loved more Darklina. BUT, we’ve been living off of crumbs for years now, and they made Mal less of an asshole in the show, so I knew we weren’t going to get much post war room anyways. I’m sad the tethered scenes got cut short (RIP this isn’t real—let me) and he didn’t die in her arms, BUT he didn’t say she was nothing so I’ll take that as a win.

That said, I’ve always thought that an intriguing aspect of Alina’s character development is her affinity for power.

In the book, it scares her how much she wants it because it positions her in league with the Darkling.

"You were meant to be my balance, Alina. You are the only person in the world who might rule with me, who might keep my power in check."

"And who will balance me?"

She fears it, and quashes her hunger for it time and time again, for Mal, for her own sanity. And yet, she doesn’t get a choice when she loses it. That loss permeates through everything, even her quiet life in Keramzin.

“Sometimes he would find her standing by a window, fingers playing in the beams of sunlight that streamed through the glass…”

This quiet life she defaults to makes sense for her character because her agency in the books wavers frequently and she’s very affected by Mal’s disdain for her abilities (for like the first TWO BOOKS–). But is frankly, boring as hell for a former saint. And, like the Darkling in a way, I did think she could deign to accomplish more.

In the scenario she’s placed in at the end of season 2, not only has she distanced herself from Mal willingly, but she gets the chance to be Grisha without the Darkling looming over her. She uses Merzost to revive Mal, has full control over her powers with all three amplifiers at her disposal, and used the cut, completely destroying a Grisha under the influence of Jurda Parem. On top of all this, she has fully accepted her role as Sankta Alina and is on her way to be Queen of Ravka.

Think about the implications of this. A big theme in the books is that *ouat voice* all magic comes with a price, dearie. If Alina gets to keep her powers, it’s implied that she also gets to keep her prolonged life. She is at an all time high, her impulse controls are dead and out at sea, and her inflated pride has the potential to lead her to THE MOST satisfying fall.

When she uses the cut (in the same way the Darkling does) the upshot and shadow in her eyes as her mouth upturns slowly–UGH I’m honestly living for it. And like, we know she needs something to do while the crows are out there ice court heisting right? RIGHT? I’m not saying this is where I saw this show going, but since we’re here in this HD fanfiction world why NOT have Dark!Alina? How would show!Alina, crack under the Apparat’s influence? Who’s going to be her balance when the Darkling and Mal are gone and Nikolai is literally dealing with his own demon?*cough* and falling for Zoya *cough* What would it take to get this girl’s hair white? And what do I have to do to get a Yurified Darkling in the same room as her?

On that thought, (pardon my unabashed love for drama, I am a Darklina girlie in this Malina world above it all) if we even get to some version of the KOS Duology, does this mean she’ll still be Grisha when the Darkling comes back as the Black Heretic? Will she be queen? A mad saint shunned in the same way he was? A self-fulfilling prophecy? How absolutely delicious would that reunion be? For her to stab the monster and then become him? She wouldn’t be able to look him in the eyes and take the high ground like she did in the sanatorium scene. Everything he tried to warn her about would come to fruition. They could face each other as equals who made some decisions and just like retire together for eternity. (My delusional Darklina shipping ass is brought to you by Start a War btw… I read it immediately after Ruin and Rising on ff.net the first time around, I highly suggest it if you too are suffering)

To get back to the point, were it not for the Duology and the Zoyalai of it all, I’d honestly be for the Sol Koroleva route all the way. I mean, look at her!!!

Don’t you just want to see her gain the world, and then lose it all in the time it takes the crows to break Matthias of Hellgate? You can’t tell me a season 3 with an OP Sankta Alina dealing with post-civil war Ravka wouldn’t be entertaining at the very least.

Like, of course at the end of the day I want Zoyalai endgame with blue ribbons and rings the size of an acorn, peep the url, besties. But GUYS come ON we know how these things go. Mal’s gonna come back, reign her in and they’ll eventually end up in that boring orphanage with a cat or whatever anyways. In the meantime, we could have so much fun!

If you approach the show as you would fanfic, it’s not as maddening. Trust me, I’m a Darklina shipper and a Zoyalai shipper– you can’t even get to one of those without stabbing and burning the other. I know the showrunners would sooner give us some random love triangle with Tolya and Inej (a topic for another day) than all this but a girl can DREAM.

In conclusion, I did not prematurely lose David for nothing, I need to know where they’re going with this, so please be more chill so we get that unhinged season 3, thank you.

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fanfics4world · 3 months

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Nothing else matters

Word count: 1250

Pairings: Genya Safin x Fem!Reader

Summary: Shadows loom over both of you as you try to escape, you have one thing on your mind, protect her.

You were running through the stone corridors fleeing the darkness, looking for some source of light. You could hear the Nichevo'ya behind you.

Your hand was tightly gripped in Genya's, you were not going to let go, you were not going to lose her because of your brother's madness.

You turned a corner and came to a dead end corridor. You looked at Genya, whose face had an expression of pure terror.

"We're going to die…" she said defeated. You turned and held her face in your hands, lightly stroking her scars.

"No, do you hear me? We're not going to die, I won't allow it," then you saw it, a door to your right, you cursed yourself internally that you hadn't noticed.

"This way," you opened the door and both of you stepped inside, you had reached one of the kitchens. There seemed to be no way out. You heard the Nichevo'ya approaching the door.

No, this would not end like this. You ran to the dumbwaiter at the back and lifted the door, there was space for one person.

"Come in" you said to Genya, she hesitated for a moment, but finally entered the dumbwaiter.

"Y/N, how will we do it, there's only space for one-", before she could finish, you lowered the door and placed a board to lock it.

"Y/N? Y/N?! What are you doing?", Genya desperately tried to open the door, knocking as she watched you through the small mirror of the dumbwaiter.

"You will go up to the kitchens upstairs and wait for everything to pass" you said ignoring Genya's pleas for you to open the door.

"NO! Y/N! Please! I can't lose you, open the door!" tears welled up in Genya's eyes, the sight broke your heart, but it had to be this way.

"Genya, look at me, everything is going to be fine. But you have to promise me that you won't come out until it's completely safe" you said, Genya shook her head, but finally nodded.

You heard the Nichevo'ya knock on the door, they were coming in. "When you come out, find David and meet up with Alina and the others. I will come and get you, I promise" you said placing your hand on the glass.

"I love you Genya" you said before pressing the lever for the freight elevator to go up. You heard her screaming your name, but you snapped back to reality when you saw the kitchen door fly out and two Nichevo'ya coming in.

"Were you guys hungry? I'm afraid we finished all the soup" you said drawing your shadow sword.

"That was… heartwarming…" you saw your brother coming out from behind the Nichevo'ya. "Love… That was always your weakness little sister" Alexander said. You knew Alina wanted to take his life, but if the opportunity presented itself, you would do it yourself.

"At least my weakness was real, and not for the purpose of gaining more power" you replied, you saw Alexander's face become serious.

Genya had told you many times that your words would end up killing you, maybe the time had come.

"Everything I did was to protect us, to protect you!" he shouted, another lie…. This was starting to get repetitive.

"You did it for you, for your own ego. You said you created the shadow to protect the Grisha, and I believed you, I forgave you, because I thought you could change…. But I was wrong, you didn't change Alexander, you simply hid your plans…. And you almost killed us all" you answered.

"It hurts me that you think like that…. But I want you to remember, I gave you a choice" he said before disappearing surrounded by shadows.

[...]

Pain… That was all your body felt…. You fought, you tried, but those monsters were practically indestructible, not even your shadows could protect you.

And there you were, sitting against the kitchen wall, blood emanating from the hole in your abdomen, you would have rather died.

You felt your body numb, unable to move and you felt how with each breath, the next one became more difficult.

With all the pain going through you, you moved your hand and pulled out of your pocket a small black felt box.

Genya always said you should change color, but black would always be with you, even if you didn't want it, a constant reminder of your ancestors' deeds.

You opened the box with the press, and looked sadly at the ring, a red ruby on top.

Genya… The only light that was able to remain in your darkness, the light that guided you to do something you never thought you would experience again… Happiness…

"She's okay, you saved her…" you reminded yourself, and in that moment, nothing mattered. She was your world, and if she was okay, nothing else mattered.

"Y/N? Where are you taking me?" you turned to see Genya, hair was down and she had a smile on her face, there was a black blindfold covering her eyes.

You find yourselves walking through the corridors of the Little Palace, it was night time and everyone else was resting in their rooms.

"I have to show you something, it's a surprise" you said as you pulled her towards one of the balconies.

"Mmmm, I already deduced that from the tape covering my eyes" you couldn't help but laugh, which made Genya's smile widen.

You both stepped out onto the balcony. "Do you trust me?" you asked, you knew the answer, but you loved hearing it.

"Always," she said. You let go of her hand and closed the door. You stood behind her. "Ready?" you asked, Genya nodded. You removed the tape and watched as her eyes lit up.

The stars were shining brightly in the sky, reflecting in her pupils. "It's a beautiful night Y/N" she said looking at you. You grabbed her hand and both of you walked over to the stone railing.

"Despite the darkness of the sky, the stars shine, managing to pierce the darkness. In the old days they were used as maps to reach destinations, as guides" you explained while looking at the sky.

"You are my star Genya Safin, you broke through my darkness and shone, guiding me" you confessed.

Genya turned to look at you and your gazes met, you could get lost in those eyes a hundred times, you loved it.

"You are my light, my guide. You stayed with me despite my darkness, and I can never thank you enough for that" you said clasping her hands.

"But I can promise you that as long as you are with me, I will do everything in my power to make you happy, I will give you the world if you ask me to" you added and you could see how Genya tried not to cry.

"I love you Genya, as I have never loved anyone" you confessed.

Before you could say anything else, Genya's lips caught you. The kiss was sweet, but in that moment all promises were sealed.

Your hands traveled to her waist, pulling her closer to you. That moment was yours, nothing else mattered.

When you parted, your hands remained on her waist, and your foreheads pressed together.

"I don't need the world, because I have you Y/N"

"I love you" she said, in that moment you felt like the happiest person in the world. You were together, she was yours and you were hers.

You blinked several times coming back to reality.

You clenched the ring tightly in your hand.

"Forgive me Genya…", you let the darkness consume you with only one thought in mind.

Her.

A.N: Hello! I know I've been missing for a while, but I'm back with new ideas that I'll upload soon. As always, if you have any ideas or suggestions, write to me

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aceinejghafa · 1 year

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just finished a binge watch of shadow & bone season 2... have some thoughts!

(many many spoilers for every single episode, so I'm putting this under the cut)

generally: absolutely amazing. The incorporation of the crows & the relationships within the crows (cough WESPER WESPER WESPER cough) are especially well done.

however. I gotta say I'm mad about what happens to Alina. So much of the books is about how Alina doesn't want to be the one to fix Ravka—she doesn't want to be queen, she's only doing it because it needs to be done. look at this quote:

“They wanted a Grisha queen. Mal wanted a commoner queen. And what did I want? Peace for Ravka. A chance to sleep easy in my bed without fear. An end to the guilt and dread that I woke to every morning. There were old wants too, to be loved for who I was, not what I could do, to lie in a meadow with a boy’s arms around me and watch the wind move the clouds.”

She wants peace for Ravka, she doesn't want to spend her life ruling the country. That is so much of the point of Shadow and Bone — the happy ending isn't marrying a king and fixing the country; it's an ordinary life, full of ordinary things—if love can ever be called that. (interesting that nikolai was brought into that quote in the show. love that he's a hardcore malina shipper. actually I think I might like nikolai more in the show than in the books, which is saying something).

but ANYWAY the show just. destroyed alina's whole arc there. throughout the show, she's all "I need to fix Ravka" and she seems to want that responsibility, rather than just wanting it to actually get done.

and then the ending. using merzost to resurrect Mal. not losing her Sun Summoner powers (unless you count possibly trading them for Darkling powers, which I don't). MARRYING NIKOLAI. Mal becoming Sturmhond 2.0 is fun & all, and the show did lead up to it pretty well, but it's just not what book!Mal would have wanted. STOP HAVING A CRISIS OF PURPOSE AND LIVE AN ORDINARY LIFE FULL OF ORDINARY THINGS—

so yeah I might be mildly irritated by some parts of the show there

that being said—Nikolai is SO well done

I think I might've mentioned this earlier, but show Nikolai might just be better than book Nikolai (Nikolai in TGT, at least)

like... the whole love triangle situation was significantly better? Nikolai and Mal didn't hate each other—they actually had a pretty great friendship (and I'm guessing people are going to start shipping Nikolai/Mal/Alina a lot more sometime soon)? Nikolai didn't basically assault Alina? I'm actually really impressed since usually a show would Up The Drama, and this one didn't <3

Nikolai giving Alina the compass, which is associated with Mal's whole true north thing... and then Mal getting the compass in the end... actually pretty cool

the quote about hope being the wind in the sails! "when people say impossible, they usually mean improbable"! yes yes YES !!!

zoyalai hints <3 tbh I was hoping for more than that but I am obsessed with what I got <3

also! dominik being alive at the start! so we get to meet him! and get bits of backstory!

and then he died which. I was expecting. but also :(((((((((

speaking of dying.

DAVID AND GENYA OH MY GODS

kinda disappointed that they skipped the "I'm not ruined. I'm ruination" quote

but on the other hand! the I know metal speech! that was AMAZING <333333333 they are so soft

and then they. kill david off. and i CRY

THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN UNTIL ROW

so yeah upset about that but not really mad... denya is definitely one of the best ships in the show...

and then!!! the crows!!! the crows!!! the crows!!!

SO MUCH WESPER CONTENT. we are BLESSED guys. Jesper & Wylan having a one-night stand pre-canon??? then getting to know each other??? and having a more serious relationship??? amazing showstopping top-tier content

a bit worried about whatever happens in the soc spinoff when jesper finds out that wylan is a van eck—could be kinda painful

also I'm hoping they entirely skip jesper kissing kuwei, never really liked that bit in the books

"I kinda like your face" <<<< "maybe I liked your stupid face" but admittedly it's hard to do the book quote when you don't have the Kuwei tailoring plot

Wylan saving the day by knowing cool botanical facts <3 I love him so much guys

actually the whole thing with Sankta Neyar is fantastic? like WOW I was expecting to dislike any non-books content but I did NOT that thing was GREAT (and showed that there's a future for superpowerful Grisha that is not becoming the Darkling, which is excellent because it's TRUE).

Inej & Mal & Tolya & Tamar going off to hunt slavers together—some mixed feelings about that. I have faith that Inej & Kaz will meet up again in future seasons, but idk?

kinda weird how all those CK plot elements showed up... Kaz beats Pekka and makes him beg, but then Pekka just starts running Hellgate from inside? no real consequences? unsuccessful revenge? and all the plot from CK (fake plague, Alby) is used up already

so yeah that was annoying

but also the scene where Inej asks Kaz what he wants... and you can SEE the words You, Inej. You running through his head... and then he says "to die buried under a mountain of my own gold"... every time they quote the books I go FERAL and this is no exception

so basically I'm worried about what they'll do with the crows in possible later spinoffs/seasons but also I absolutely adore all the content they gave us <3

fun fact: I watched the whole show on 1.5x speed because I only had 5 and a half hours. I used subtitles so I could always understand what they were saying, the only weird thing was any shot of anyone walking ever. still worth it so that I could watch everything, though <3

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tirkdi · 11 months

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re: that ask you just got, I find it sooo interesting and mildly maddening the way the KoS duology casually revealing that Aleksander knew, met and apparently just disregarded other immortals recontextualizes everything going on with him in the original trilogy. we’re told half his motivation is simply being mad with loneliness and like the earnest belief that Alina is his only possible companion through eternity (aside from his mother lol)

so just trying to square that with KoS is. idk! idk how to reconcile it exactly! is he just somehow certain that other saints aren’t true companions for him? is his fixation with Alina predicated on the fact that he’s met her when she’s so young and therefore he can idk Show Her The Correct Perspective? what else sets her apart! idk!

anyway, I’d love to hear if you have any particular thoughts or theories!

I love this ask because it means it's not just me 😭

He is supposed to be desperately lonely, and while I get that Elizaveta and Juris (and Grigori, lol) (and Ulla, lol again) may not be the best company ... they're definitely company. He's not alone, there's no reason for him to freak out like he does when Alina loses her powers.

I do think that Alina's youth shows him a glimpse of himself that the other saints do not – he believes he knows how her life will go and feels that he can just wait and be there for her when she realizes he's been right all along ... but it's not clear to me why he'd have that belief if he saw how other immortal Grishas' lives do diverge very significantly from his own. It seems that seeing how immortality plays out for other people should widen his viewpoint a bit.

And, honestly, that that's not the only thing that really threw me for a loop about him in that duology. The number of times people say that "all he wanted was for Ravka to love him" when I never, even once, saw him say or do anything in the trilogy that made me think that was the case?? There are enough things like that that make me think we really are dealing with a slightly separate character in KoS & RoW because the motivations just don't seem like they're there for so many of the things we hear in those subsequent books, while also undermining the motivations we do see for him in the trilogy.

Basically: no theories, I now just have separate spaces in my brain for trilogy!Darkling, show!Darkling, and RoW!Darkling. Boy truly contains multitudes.

#does anyone else have a theory to make it all make sense?#grishaverse #the darkling #aleksander morozova #row spoilers #kos spoilers

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where-theres-smoak-2 · 2 years

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Ruin and Rising Book Spoilers (Also a mini rant sorry)

You know most the time when I see an anti post I tend to just shrug and then keep on scrolling but today, I don’t know if its just because I am having a bad day so I’m more on edge or what, but I saw two anti posts (both misusing the term p*dophile but what’s new there) that were so nonsensical that they just left me flabbergasted. I legit saw an anti complaining about fanartists depicting the darkling as looking like a teenager. But like if you’ve got a problem with the darkling being drawn and depicted as looking young/ teenlike then maybe take that up with the author seeing as she’s the one that describes him as looking not that much older than Alina ie a teenager. The only thing darklina fanartists are guilty of here is accurately depicting the darkling as he is described in the books. I don’t understand why someone would be mad about that, the only explanation I can think of is that they hadn’t read the books.

It only got worse from there though because then I saw some antis talking about Alina’s ending and how she chose to give up power for love, that she let the burden of her power go so she could have a simple life, that she is now content and the happiest she could be and that was a real power move. Well if I hadn’t already been sitting down that one would have caused me to fall right over. I’m sorry but she didn’t choose anything, her powers were taken from her. She didn’t know that was going to happen and we know from the text itself that losing her power has a profound effect on her and that she grieves the loss of it:

The boy and the girl had both known loss, and their grief did not leave them. Sometimes he would find her standing by a window, fingers playing in the beams of sunlight that streamed through the glass...

She would sit in the window playing with beams of sunlight in a desperate attempt to recreate the feeling of that power she once had, that was part of who she was. There was no power move here, if anything Alina was a victim who had her power, a piece of her, stolen from her, I just don’t see that as a happy ending and in my opinion I find it worrisome that there are people trying to paint this as something that Alina chose for herself in some kind of female power move. For me Alina losing her powers was the greatest tragedy that happened in those books but hey that’s just my opinion. Anyway I am done ranting now.

#darklina #the darkling #alina starkov #anti antis #anti leigh bardugo

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animetingzz · 2 years

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I need you

Bela Dimitrescu x Shifter! Reader

Warning! Angst and gore, mentions of torture.

“Honey i just don’t get why you want to try and kill one of the four lords? THEY’RE LORDS! Are you sure you’re ready for the consequences when you fail?” The woman glares at the man, her spineless coward of a husband who was once brave and confident. There was a time where he’d follow her anywhere, he’d do anything for her and vice versa. “You don’t understand Stefan! This is my sister! They laid their filthy hands on her and stole the life from her! What did she do but serve them unconditionally?! What warrants such a fate?!” “THEY’LL KILL YOU! Make a public example of you! What then?! What shall I do then?!” “Stop making this about you! This is my sister we’re talking about and if I don’t avenge her who will? You certainly won’t and I can’t stand by while they drag more innocent souls to their deaths!” The door shuts with a resounding slam as Stefan breaks down at the prospect of losing his beloved wife. “Forgive us Mother Miranda . . .”

The plan was simple, get close to the Lady and earn her trust. There were rumors of a dagger powerful enough to strip the life of the wretched matriarch she just couldn’t pin down where exactly it resided. Gaining the trust of the nine foot tall Beauty proved to be more difficult than naught, the head of the castle always away for business or busy with one of her daughters, showing her the ins and outs of their business as she’d soon have a partnership role. That’s what led Alina to her backup plan. If she couldn’t get close to the matriarch than she’ll have to take something from her that will absolutely destroy her; Her daughters.

Getting close to Cassandra was nothing short of impossible. The deranged middle Dimitrescu only had blood and carnage on her mind, death was sure to follow anyone who dared to get close. Daniela also proved to be difficult seeing as the girl was impetuous. Often acting without a single thought the youngest Dimitrescu could switch up her moods so swiftly it was impossible to read her. Stories of her erratic outbursts whispered through the halls, a maid getting her face slashed for making a simple mistake. She too seemed to operate on pure destruction. That left Bela; eldest Dimitrescu and heir to whatever winery they operated. Perhaps the most poised and collected of the three, she too had her moments of terror but she spent most of her time in her study reading any and everything. Her thirst for knowledge was the one thing Alina could work with.

“Come onnnnn, you’ve read that book like a million timesss. . .” (Y/n) whines, crawling into the blonde’s lap and trying to muzzle her way under her book and into her neck, much like a cat in search of affection. Bela, still absorbed in her book hums softly, placing a kiss atop her head without breaking her concentration. “I want to spend time with you.” (Y/n) nuzzles into her neck, breathing in her scent with a sigh. She smelled of amber and bark with a slight iron undertone. Bela finishes the chapter and sets her book down, turning her attention to the girl in her lap. “Alright I’m all yours now.” (Y/n) grins brightly and all but drags Bela out the study. “We’re going to have so much fun!” On their way down the hall they run into Alina, Bela’s personal maid, carrying a load of laundry. “Oh Alina, I’ve been meaning to tell you, the nights are getting far too cold so you’ll need to make sure there’s enough firewood in Lady Bela’s room each night. I needn’t remind you the consequences should you fail as I’m quite fond of you.” “Yes lady (y/n). I shall get to it right away.”

(Y/n) proved to be another wrench in Alina’s plan. After she had settled to get close to Bela she realized she’d also have to gain the trust of the resident hunter/ executioner. (Y/n)’s whole purpose was to get her hands dirty and the girl showed absolutely no remorse over it. Was everyone in this castle fucking mad? Legend had it (Y/n) wasn’t even fully human, where’s the surprise in that? (Y/n) was always at Bela’s side, only leaving to hunt, gather supplies from around the village, and carry out executions. Alina couldn’t quite pin what exactly (y/n) was and it scared her. She was swift like the daughters but never burst into swarms of murderous flies. She ate the same as the three but didn’t actively drink blood. Was she perhaps another one of Miranda’s freaks? She’d have to find out some other time because now fate seemed to be on her side. Lady Dimitrescu was leaving for business and (y/n) was going out for a hunt. Daniela and Cassandra would be in the dungeons all day torturing those poor souls (y/n) dragged in the previous week. “They’ve been scouting the castle grounds.” She had said. Anyone with ill intentions was tortured and eventually put to death. That left Bela who had opted out of torture for the day and insisted she read in her study. Alina knew the girl hadn’t been sleeping too well and thus her senses dulled. The knife she’d heard about tucked away into the apron of her uniform Alina did her normal duties, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She wasn’t a complete idiot either she had the perfect plan. Open the window to weaken the flies that made up Bela’s structure and stab her with the knife to render her healing ability from kicking in. She’d then lock her in the study and let nature take its course. She’d then rush the dagger back to its rightful place and stage an attack on the castle, wounding herself would likely keep her out of suspicion.

Something’s not right. (Y/n)’s gut was screaming at her to abandon her hunt and return to the castle. Her wings twitched nervously and she hissed lowly. The herd of deer she had been stalking for half the day just ahead. She readied herself to pounce, in her panthera form she’d make quick work of the poor deer she’d get her claws on however the nagging feeling that something just wasn’t right prevented her from following through. Then she heard it, the shudders of weakened breathing and the slowing of a heart beating. Bela was in trouble. With the sound akin to that of thunder (y/n) took to the sky, trying with all her might to get to the castle in time. She didn’t even shift back to her human form as she raced the halls, listening for those cursed sounds. When she located the door she all but tore a hole through it, immediately sweeping Bela off the floor and rushing her to another room. Her thoughts running wild. How did this happen? If only I’d been here. I’ll kill whoever’s responsible. Cassandra and Daniela burst through the door shortly after. “What the hell did you do to my sister?!” Cass sneered, already quick to blame with her sickle pointed at the Hunter. “Cass calm down! If she’d done it she wouldn’t have rushed her here.” Daniela reasoned, her eyes brimming with tears. “I don’t know who did this but someone’s head is going to roll for it.” (Y/n) said with absolute venom lacing her words.

The days to follow were filled with so much tension. All the maids were lined up and cross examined, most had strong alibi’s while others seemed a little shaky. Nonetheless the incident was ruled an accident by Lady Dimitrescu per (y/n)’s pleas. Bela fell into a coma whilst her body worked to recover at an alarmingly slow pace. Her room on complete lockdown, no maids, not even her sisters or (y/n) could see her. It hurt to not be able to see the girl she loved but (y/n) knew it was for the best. Trust was very low these days and whoever tried to kill her could still be in this castle. (Y/n) remembers the conversation she had with Lady Dimitrescu the week after the incident. “Whoever tried to kill Bela knew what they were doing. They waited until you and I were away for business and Cass and Daniela would be busy in the lowest parts of the castle. They also left the window open and locked her in her study. I have a list of maids I want to observe but I must ask of you a favor my Lady.” Lady Dimitrescu takes a puff of her cigarette with a hum, she was very livid over the whole situation but her outward demeanor remained calm, frighteningly calm. “I’m listening child.” (Y/n) looks up and makes eye contact for the first time that night, her eyes red from crying and flooding with pure retribution. “I want you to announce that the incident was an accident. I can observe everyone better if they know we don’t suspect any foul play. I would also like to request that Bela is put on strict lockdown, with you being the only one to be in contact with her. I’ll assign all her maids elsewhere.” Lady Dimitrescu mulls the thought over for what feels like a century. She wanted whoever tried to kill her daughter to pay for their crimes, that much she had in common with (y/n) but to cut her daughters off from their sister? In these trying times where Bela was literally fighting for her life? “My lady, I only ask because she may try again if she had access to Bela.” (Y/n) assures as if reading her mind. “Granted, you have 14 days to figure out who tried to kill my daughter. Should you fail, well, it’s going to be a dark night in the history of castle Dimitrescu.” (Y/n) nodded, the indirect threat lingering over her head.

Ten days and nothing of significance. (Y/n) groans in frustration. She’d observed every maid and none stood out, none seemed the least bit suspicious and it bugged her to no end. Deciding that some time outside the castle would help clear her head she decided to head for the village for supplies. She hadn’t had time to hunt lately so she figured buying from local butchers should be enough to feed the Dimitrescu’s until she could get out to hunting again. On her way to the local butchers she passed the pub, the siren call of whiskey oh so enticing. One drink. She thought, one drink would be enough for her after all she wanted to remain level headed. “I still can’t believe she’d throw away years of marriage. . . ” a man babbled, slumped on the table he sat at with tears and snot running down his face. The pink shade to his face indicated this man was well passed drunk. (Y/n) paid him no mind as she trekked further into the pub. “I told her not to go . . . Told her death would surely follow. You can’t kill a Lord.” (Y/n)’s ears perked up at this, forgoing her drink she closed in on the man, blood boiling. “What’s this about killing a Lord?” The man gasps in surprise, stumbling back in his seat and hitting the floor. Fucking drunks. “My Lady. . . What brings you to here?” (Y/n) loomed over the man, her foot coming up to rest on his throat, forcing his back into the ground. “I have very little patience for formalities. Cut the shit and tell me what you know about the attack on Castle Dimitrescu.” The man spilled everything, his wife’s sister, her plan of revenge, the legends of a dagger that was strong enough to kill a Lord. His fear fueling him to empty his soul. (Y/n)’s eyes flashed an angry gold, so one of the maids made the attempt on Bela’s life. She dragged the man with her to castle Dimitrescu and before the Lord herself.

Alina could barely lift her head as the sounds of manic giggling drew closer and closer. She could hear whimpering on her left and the rattling of chains at his futile attempt to escape. “Well well well what do we have here?” An airy voice taunted and out of the swarm Daniela materialized, a crazed smile graced her features, lips coated in blood and gore. “Ah yes. . . A spineless man thing who can’t stop spewing nonsense. Cute if you weren’t so hopelessly weak. Oh and you?” Daniela directs her attention to Alina, a mischievous glint in her two toned eyes. “The bitch my sister trusted, what a terrible judge of character that one. Do you want to know what we’re going to do to you?” The sound of yet another swarm approaches, Cassandra appearing with an array of new tools. “Enough talking Dani, let’s show these scum what happens when you bare your teeth at castle Dimitrescu.” The torture lasted for days as their screams echoed the halls. Cassandra and Daniela doing the most without granting them the sweet release of death. A week passed, than another before it was time to publicly execute them. (Y/n) mulled over a few ways to make an example of the couple. She wished Bela was awake so she could give her input but the blonde was stuck in her coma. Lady Dimitrescu finally allowed her daughters and (y/n) to visit her and (y/n) spent most of her time laying next to Bela in her Panthera form, trying with all her might to produce enough heat to accelerate her healing. After finding out about the dagger being stolen Lady Dimitrescu begged mother Miranda for an antidote. The woman agreed and had an antidote prepared the very same day. She warned them however that the affects might take awhile, “could be days could be months”. All they could do was wait. You could always just post them outside the castle walls and let the crows have at them they’ll succumb to their injuries and it’ll send a message that there’s a fate far worse than death. (Y/n) remembers Bela telling her that on one of her first executions, helping the girl send a clear message to the village. No one messes with House Dimitrescu.

There was peace once again in the castle, albeit a strained peace. Tensions were still high as Bela had yet to rise from her coma. Cassandra had started getting more violent, lashing out at anyone and anything with her hair trigger temper. Daniela grew more quiet, opting to read more these days rather than partake in any activities that would have her leave the castle. Lady Dimitrescu still managed her business and frequent meetings with the Lords but she spent smoked more and ate less. (Y/n) never left Bela’s room, after making an example of that wretched couple she curled up beside Bela and just laid there. She didn’t eat and she rarely slept. She spent her days talking to the comatose blonde in hopes that something would stir her from her deep slumber. “You wouldn’t believe it, it was the biggest deer I’d ever downed, you would’ve loved it.” Tears flowed like a constant stream, ceasing to end down (y/n)’s face. “Please wake up Bela, I need you, I . . . I love you.”

~End

Requested by @wolfie22900

AN: I’m so sorry to make this so sad but there may or may not be a second part to this, depending on how I’m feeling…

#bela dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #re8 dimitrescu #re8 village #castle dimitrescu #alcina dimitrescu #resident evil village #bela dimitrescu x reader #re8 angst #sorry yall

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sanktagenyas · 1 year

Text

making mal this supportive boyfriend who doesn’t have a thought to voice and just watches the supposed love of his life get ready to marry another man (even if its a non romantic and only political alliance) and alina be distracted by the first pretty face whenever mal isn’t around makes them seem resigned and with an inferiority complex and fickle respectively.

the fact that alina is so insecure about herself that despite declarations, makeout sessions, the fact that this man is willing to follow her on hunts for mystical creatures even though he clearly worries she could die in the process all because it’s what SHE wants she still doubts his feelings and is mad that he isn’t throwing a jealous fit while ravka is at war. the ravka she keeps insisting she needs to be the one to save. all of it is ridiculous.

even before mal dumps her i couldn’t root for malina even though jessie and archie have decent chemistry. they don’t have the same chemistry ben and jessie do or even jessie and daisy have. because yes i was rooting for genyalina, a fanon ship more than i was for the central romance of season 2. but it’s not about chemistry being lacking or even about mal being a piece of shit anymore because that’s book!mal! it’s book mal who shames her for everything she does from her sexuality/romantic endeavours that don’t involve him, to the use of her powers, to her body. in the books it actually makes sense for alina to bond with nikolai and be charmed by him. the guy she’s in love with treats her like shit so whether it’s the privateer persona or the prince of course she’s gonna gravitate towards him especially when he’s more respectful towards her and more understanding.

in the show though? she’s high and mighty. she doesn’t understand why nikolai had to lie to her, she doesn’t understand why the alliance is beneficial until mal of all people explains it to her and she only likes nikolai because he’s a) charming and attractive and b) he sucks up to her. it’s not about connection anymore. you take away the reason why she was even open to it and turns out nikolai and alina don’t make sense.

and now they wanna give part of zoya’s storyline to alina on top of it. i have yet to read KoS or RoW but i know alina isn’t in the first book. and she certainly isn’t the protagonist anymore. that would be nikolai and zoya. if they insert her into a love triangle i will lose my mind. at this point i’d rather she get her happy ending with mal even though i don’t ship it. they left it open ended that whole part about next time if they cross paths again it will be about choice not destiny. honestly i’ve seen some malinas complain and why? you guys won. just because the endgame has been delayed doesn’t mean it’s not happening eventually. it’s just that if it does it will involve alina also grappling with her new grisha powers. i just hope she isn’t forced to sacrifice those like she did in the books, that if she loses her powers this time she chooses to do so maybe because she sees how they’re turning her into someone who murders in cold blood and likes it. maybe. she’s supposed to be different from the darkling actually and yet she was really quick to use the shadow cut. i hope they explore that if she sticks around and that she isn’t forced to choose between love and powers that are integral to her very being. don’t change the book ending just to backtrack, show!

but for the love of god do not put her in another love triangle and not with nikolai. it does not work. and we’ve already been paid dust with zoya she’s meant to be our lead female role if they ever adapt KoS and RoW. do something different find something for alina, the hero of the first trilogy to do that isn’t being defined by her boyfriend or ex boyfriend/enemy. her whole healing ravka spiel was only out of guilt and pride both instiled in her by the darkling. she got rid of the fold, yes but she has no political savvy she isn’t meant for what comes next. she doesn’t care for her country above all. that would be zoya. i said i like jessie’s acting and i do but i love sujaya’s in what little she’s been given and zoya promises to have an amazing character arc and growth. i’ve not read the duology yet, i’m late to the party but show!zoya has so much potential and if they waste it to shove alina where she does not belong it’d be such a waste.

#anti malina #anti nikolina #zoya nazyalensky #i'm not putting this in the alina tag 'cause i don't want anyone to get pissy #i'm certainly not an anti i like show!alina a lot i liked her more in season 1 #but KoS and RoW are not about her #and nikolai is honestly a much more compelling protagonist and so is zoya #i would take a malina ending even the fucked up one that happening in the books a thousand times over #if it means zoya and nikolai's story are THEIR OWN #sab spoilers #shadow and bone spoilers

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thedarklingxalina · 2 years

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Darklina Library

Married Darklina Fanfic Recommendations

Fanfics where Alina and the Darkling get married, are married, or have an arranged marriage.

Out of Time by destinies

Summary: Alina Starkov expected to wake up on a ship sailing across the True Sea, one that would take her far from Ravka, far from the Darkling and his mad crusade. Instead, she awoke in Os Alta to a devastating truth: the war was won nearly a century ago, her first love was dead, and she remembered nothing.Not even that, as part of her surrender, she agreed to a political marriage.

Sequel/Extra: Bedroom Hymns by destinies

The Sun In Splendour by humanmeatpie

Summary: Alina is the bastard daughter of the Tsar. In an attempt to both humiliate and control the darkling, he forces them to marry. Will this change tear Ravka apart or give it a real chance to heal? Also known as: the Darkling simps, Alina gets a character arc and I’m sure I’ll find a way to fit Mal into this.

Vsegda, Always by vuas

Summary: “An heir?” Alina hacks up half her tea, spoiling one of her finer dressing gowns.

She’s too busy dabbing at the mess with napkins, cheeks warm, to notice the bemused look her husband gives over the top of the newspaper from where he sat reading across the breakfast table.She quickly learns he isn’t joking.

(Or: Aleksander Morozova asks his wife for a baby, and she doesn't find herself opposed to the idea.)

Midnight Prayers by vuas

Summary: “Shh,” he murmurs, cradling her face in his warm palm. “Stay still. No tears now, milaya. You’ll take what you’re given.”

“But—“

“Mercy,” he leans up to kiss her wet cheek. “Is for saints.”

The general's bride by Anuna

Summary: For months she and Mal had been on the run. She kept her hair and her powers hidden, kept her hands and her face dirty in hope not to be recognized as the Sun Summoner. That is our best chance, you cannot reveal yourself to anyone any more. Mal had convinced her to stay invisible, unnoticeable, plain. But keeping herself invisible after learning how to shine had its cost.

Amnesia by Keira_63

Summary: “Who are you?” she asks again, because it somehow seems the most important question.

“Oh, milaya,” he sighs forlornly, “I’m your husband.”Alina loses a year of her memory and wakes to a world very different to the one she once knew.

the winter after by ellewhile

Summary: “I’m like your little pet,” I said once, when they wouldn’t stop glancing at me. “Have you fed me? Have you watered me? I bet they wonder.”

There was darkness in his voice when he responded, and it rushed through his fingers and into mine as our hands brushed together. “Not for long, Alina.”

He dipped his head down to my ear, dipped his volume to match. “That I can promise.”

»»————-　♔　————-««

The winter after the Darkling is defeated, Alina and Mal decide to stay in a cabin before officially settling down. After a fight, Alina is left to live alone. It's not too long before shadows start to follow her.We must all face our demons sooner or later.

Alternative Universe Married

i love you (i'm all you'll ever need) by Keira_63

Summary: A car accident that kills her best friend leaves Alina missing the last three months of her memories. It’s a good job her doting husband Aleksander is around to help. So why does something feel very wrong?

Notes: Alina and Aleks are both artists. Dark.

AU: Modern/No Powers

The Blacksmith's Daughter by Lalaith_Yamainu

Summary: The strangers are different from anyone who's ever come to their village before: well dressed, with soft hands and fine, chiseled faces. Nobleborns, who pay for six months room and board at the inn with a single comb. Alina resolves to ignore them.

AU: Cottage Core

For alltid, sammen med deg by Madismen

Summary: He sees her in the Cloister garden first, head bent over a book and that is all it takes.All he needs to know she's the one.Doesn't mind fighting a war to get her.

AU: Fantasy/Magic

#darklina #alina x the darkling #alina x aleksander #darklina library #long post #darklina fanfic recs #no one recommended me any soooo i made my own recs for this trope xD

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ohifonlyx33 · 1 year

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Anyway here's some passages about Mal and Alina's sacrifice at the end... Just in case anyone needs to know that Alina losing her powers was a powerful part of the story that added to the thematic narrative, that Mal's death mattered more to her than any miracle, that Mal and Alina BOTH felt an intrinsic loss but it didn't change their very real feelings based on years of friendship, and that the darkling saw Alina as nothing but a vessel for power while Alina recognizes her own inner strength came from her and not her powers.

-------

[...] I held up my hands, pleading with the light and with any Saint who had ever lived. It was no good. The gesture felt false. It was a pantomime. There was nothing there.

“I don’t understand,” I cried as I pressed my wet cheek to Mal’s. His skin was already cooling. Baghra had warned me: You may not be able to survive the sacrifice that merzost requires. But what was the point of this sacrifice? Had we lived only to be a lesson in the price of greed? Was that the truth of Morozova’s madness, some kind of cruel equation that took all our love and loss and added them up to nothing?It was too much. The hate and pain and grief overwhelmed me. If I’d had my power back for even a second, I would have burned the world to a cinder.

-------

Now I understood. I saw what he had done. This was the gift of the three amplifiers: power multiplied a thousand times, but not in one person. How many new Summoners had just been created? How far had Morozova’s power reached? The arcs and cascades of light blossomed around me, a bright garden growing in this unnatural night. The beams met, and where they crossed, the darkness burned away. The shrieks of the volcra erupted around me as the Fold began to unravel. It was a miracle. And I didn’t care. The Saints could keep their miracles. The Grisha could keep their long lives and their lessons. Mal was dead.

-------

“Keep working,” I ordered the twins. “Alina—” “Bring him back to me,” I repeated. I wasn’t making sense. I knew that.They didn’t have Morozova’s power. But Mal could make rabbits out of rocks. He could find true north standing on his head. He would find his way back to me again. I lurched to my feet, and the Darkling strode toward me. His hands went to my throat. “No,” he whispered. Only then did I realize the collar had fallen away. I looked down. It lay in pieces beside Mal’s body. My wrist was bare; the fetter had broken too. “This isn’t right,” he said, and in his voice I heard desperation, a new and unfamiliar anguish. His fingers skimmed my neck, cupped my face. I felt no surge of surety. No light stirred within me to answer his call. His gray eyes searched mine—confused, nearly frightened. “You were meant to be like me. You were meant … You’re nothing now.”

-------

“I feel empty.” Mal was quiet for a long moment, then said, “I feel it too.” I pushed up on my elbow. His gaze was faraway. "I won’t know until I try to track, but I feel different. I used to just know things. Even lying here, I could have sensed deer in the field, a bird resting on a branch, maybe a mouse burrowing in the wall. I never thought about it, but now there’s this kind of … silence.” Loss. I’d wondered how Tolya and Tamar had brought Mal back. I’d been willing to simply call it a miracle. Now I thought I understood. Mal had possessed two lives, but only one was rightfully his. The other was stolen, an inheritance wrought from merzost, snatched from the making at the heart of the world. It was the force that had animated Morozova’s daughter when her human life had gone, the power that had reverberated through Mal’s bones. His blood had been thick with it, and that purloined bit of creation was what had made him such a remarkable tracker. It had bound him to every living thing. Like calls to like.And now it was gone. The life stolen by Morozova and given to his daughter had reached its end. The life Mal had been born with—fragile, mortal, temporary—was his alone. Loss. This was the price the world had demanded for balance. But Morozova couldn’t have known that the person to unlock the secrets of his amplifiers wouldn’t be some ancient Grisha who had lived a thousand years and grown weary of his power. He couldn’t have known that it would all come down to two orphans from Keramzin.

Mal took my hand, curling his fingers in mine, and pressed it to his chest. “Do you think you could be happy?” he asked. “With a used-up tracker?” I smiled at that. Cocky Mal, is charming, brave, and dangerous. Was that doubt in his voice? I kissed him once, gently. “If you can be happy with someone who stuck a knife in your chest.” “I helped. And I told you I can handle a bad mood.” I didn’t know what came next or who I was supposed to be. I owned nothing, not even the borrowed clothes on my back. And yet, lying there, I realized I wasn’t afraid. After all I’d been through, there was no fear left in me—sadness, gratitude, maybe even hope, but the fear had been eaten up by pain and challenge. The Saint was gone. The Summoner too. I was just a girl again, but this girl didn’t owe her strength to fate or chance or a grand destiny. I’d been born with my power; the rest I’d earned.

Not that I hated season 2, but we were kinda robbed of this thematic resolution.

#malina

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goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 5 months

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Won't time travel darkling just go ahead and adopt alina as a child? Then raise her with his morals (or lack of).

I mean I hate that for a variety of obvious reasons! But also how and why is he getting time travel powers?

Anyway if he gets a free do over, with full knowledge of the canon timeline, I could see two scenarios tbh. First one is the plan as it was always meant to be, she gets taken to the little palace early on and is raised there with all the other Grisha children. I don’t think he’d raise her like… as an adopted child?

Like first of all he’s incredibly busy and incredibly arrogant. I think he’d just foist her off to whatever regular system they have, thinking that it would be adequate. I mean all the Grisha seem to pretty much come of age completely loyal to him, and he probably wouldn’t have lost most of them in canon if not for The War Crimes and Alina existing as another prominent Grisha to flock to. I think he’d think that her being raised with other Grisha for long enough for that to be part of her identity and to form a sense of community, and the sense of gratitude towards him as the person who made this all possible and who facilitated her being rescued from her lonely peasant childhood to this luxury and security would be a good enough strategy?

Also… I mean he wants to hook up with her real bad, so I think he’d want to avoid positioning himself as a familial figure lmao. Granted, he almost definitely wants to fuck his own mom. But uh. I think he’d be wary of ruining his chances with Alina that way, and he’s probably intimately familiar with inevitable rebellion against parental figures. So that’s another thing to be avoided! So… yeah, I think she’d just regularly grow up in the Little Palace, and probably be doted on as the favorite the way we see with Zoya.

Anyway the second, more spiteful, scenario for a do over would be to just ignore her tbh. Make sure her powers aren’t discovered in such a public way, and then just sit back and do nothing for a couple decades to a hundred years. (I don’t usually interpret Alina as immortal without the amplifiers, but canon isn’t explicit about that. So let’s say she is immortal in this case.)

She’s so dedicated to her own obscurity, he could be confident that she’d try to fight tooth and nail to remain anonymous and avoid being conscripted into the Second Army, or anything that might separate her from Mal. I could see Malina running away together really easily, and then scraping by trying to remain anonymous. If the Darkling had the patience to genuinely play the long game, I think he would reasonably be able to manufacture a situation where she is living out something resembling his own formative years. Allowing him to then sweep in after some time and graciously be like “It doesn’t have to be like this! Eye am also immortal and there’s a way better option!” and she’s eternally grateful to him or whatever.

In reality, I think Alina would probably be thriving for the first few decades at least and it would make him really mad lmao. But outliving Mal/anyone she grows to love will probably take a huge toll on her and eventually push her towards the Darkling’s intended outcome of being so lonely that she’s grateful to him. Idk if he’s feeling particularly devious he could manufacture a druskelle raid or whatever that gets Mal killed while protecting her, which would ideally both give her a sense of righteous anger and dedication to the Grisha/Ravkan cause against other countries, but also conveniently bring the first of Morozova’s amplifiers into play.

It all just hinges on whether he can rein in the insanity long enough to convince her to his side… which he’s not been great at historically! She’s also had way longer to form her own identity and has much more experience under her belt, so it’s really a scenario where he loses again but way worse ☺️

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #i ramble sometimes #all the bendy punctuations #a mysterious stranger has appeared

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oretsev · 1 year

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hi helloo, i'd just written a novel in ur askbox about s&b and then tumblr crashed and it was all lost :') maybe for the better because it was a total mess of thoughts lmao so let me try to summarise my feelings a bit (im sorry this turned out REALLY long)

i HATE that they speedran s&s and r&r in the most bullshit way possible. the entire amplifier hunt was basically removed, at least journey-wise - they just. find the sea whip in that one cave and then they go to morozova's workshop and thats it?? wheres the shu han quest. where the fuck is the ACTUAL spinning wheel. and why is alina not hounding everyone to find the firebird??? she's supposed to be obsessively seeking it now, why does she barely seem to care? also where's the actual ending to siege and storm. WHERE is my darkling & alina fight. wheres her being saved by mal... where's her white hair !!!! idk that scene was my favourite and once i knew we were getting a tv show i really wanted to see this on screen :((

all the characters and relationships they cut... harshaw, misha, ONCAT, tamar&nadia (because lbr they basically weren't there), honestly i even missed sergei and stigg (who i'd barely even remembered before), nadia and adrik as siblings even. they just cut all these people and their journeys with alina for what, a fetch quest for a magic sword?

also, where's the apparat and the soldat sol? we hear people call alina 'sankta', sure, but the entire religious part of ruin and rising is just. completely sidelined. which is really weird because it's so important!! tolya and tamar's faith is basically nonexistent and i don't like it at all

the whole firebird reveal was soooo boring. like i'm sorry but that scene in the book? absolutely perfect. but in the show... it's just a story! baghra just tells mal and thats it! honestly this entire season was so much telling and not showing too, soooo much exposition and it just really didnt work

now then. ive put this off long enough but. the fucking ending. dude... i don't even know where to begin. how do you fuck up the rewrite of your book so badly that the entire moral of your book is just. completely lost?? literally the entire trilogy is built on the "what is infinite? the universe and the greed of men" quote. you CANNOT disregard that in this way. the point of the entire story is that alina's greed is punished! she loses her powers and she loses mal (sort of). the fold is destroyed by her power but not by her, because she never should have had that much power! now... she loses nothing. she has her power, she has three amplifiers, she brought mal back with merzost (which is still. insane to me like i legit laughed out loud when that happened) and now she's general of the second army and also soon probably queen of ravka??? she doesnt lose ANYTHING to her greed.

and with the ending too... where the hell are they going to take this next? because theyre sure as hell not following the kos duology storyline, what with alina now being nikolai's general instead of zoya (which im also. really pissed off about because zoya's story is SO important and theyve just. shoved her to the side)

i also have some thoughts about the crows and how theyve been handled of course i just don't feel as passionately about them (also because they shouldnt have been in this show in the first place but thats just my opinion <3) but i do wonder how theyre gonna start the soc spinoff when theyve basically done so much of the crooked kingdom plot already? and inej is literally already sailing and finding slavers like... i have no idea how theyre going to dothis spinoff and make everyone happy

very small last points but im so mad that they did the "an ordinary life full of ordinary things" line and then decided to. include nikolai? what the actual fuck? and then they didnt even GIVE malina their ordinary life... sorry im so so angry about this ending

i'm sure ive got more to say but this is already wayy too long and i don't wanna bother u anymore but ive just been mad for 3 days straight and really needed to get this off my chest <3 im really disappointed that theyve managed to screw up my favourite book series of all time so i'm just going to reread r&r and forget this season exists :D hope u have a nice day and thank u for reading this dump slfksdj

RIP but ty for venting!!! i totally get everything you’re saying. all of this comes down to the writers smashing basically all of the books into one season for NO reason. all of the things that make the trilogy & duology interesting & compelling & complex are gone bc there’s no time to show them. it’s constantly going GO GO GO with the plot, & for what?? nothing got added to these characters this season, i didn’t feel any impact during any of the big reveals, i didn’t get any emotional payoff from these characters’ journeys.

& why change the ending the way they do? eric’s already said that a season 3 would go back & touch on s&s things they didn’t address. so this ending is meant to draw out alina & mal’s stories, but why do it this way? why backtrack like that? you could certainly draw out the trilogy without speed-running the original ending like this, but that doesn’t fit whatever weird narrative he has for the crows ig.

#i’m tired!!!! let these characters breathe!!#he’s so determined to just tell his silly crows story that he flattened literally every character including them #answers #shadow and bone #genjasafin

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filmmarvel · 1 year

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Shadow and Bone Season 2 Pros and Cons

I’ll keep adding to this if I think of more things.

PROS:

Nikolai. His existence alone bumps this season up to another level of fun.

No I Am Become A Blade scene!! Thank god.

The sets, the costumes, all the little props and details! This show is so gorgeous, and I love the amount of care put into each of these artistic aspects.

I love that each intro is different. They’re always really fun to watch.

It will always be fun to see book characters come to life on screen. Even if they aren’t perfect, it’s still really enjoyable.

The Nichevo’ya looked so cool! As did the Sea Whip.

Overall I really liked the Shadow and Bone storyline! They got rid of a lot of the messier things from the book- Mal’s behavior, the weird Siege and Storm pacing, the overdramatized Nikolai/Alina/Mal love triangle, the unfortunate Ruin and Rising Ending, etc. Plus Nikolai just really gives them the upper hand.

Seeing Dirtyhands for the first time! The only time it really felt like watching Kaz from then books.

The coronation scene was gorgeous, and honestly I thought the Jurda Parem bit was really cool.

Ben Barnes was fantastic as usual.

The Worldbuilding was on a whole other level this season! Even if it was rushed, it was still really fun to get to see so much more beyond Ravka.

David and Genya’s storyline was beautifully done.

CONS:

Pretty much everything with the Crows. I realize my ‘set your expectations low and you can’t be disappointed’ approach to this season maybe isn’t the best way to think about it. Even when thinking about their plotline from a completely detached-from-the-books view, it was still messy. My primary complaint from the beginning was always the lack of coherency between their two plotlines. After further thought, pretty much everything they did was a mess. In bringing so much of their book plotlines into this season, they rushed the hell out of it and sucked all the poignancy from the books out. And again, I’m not mad because they did some rearranging of book plot lines, I’m just mad that they did it so poorly.

The acting. To be honest I’m surprised that I haven’t really seen many other people mentioning this. I’m not saying they were all bad, but the fact is that Ben Barnes is really the only great actor there. That’s been true since season 1. I try not to let it bother me too much, and to be honest I had totally forgotten how bad some of it was in season 1 until I watched season 2.

The pacing. Honestly I’m sticking to when I said I preferred this rushed pacing over the original Siege and Storm pacing. It was fast paced, and exciting. Unfortunately it was also just way too much way too fast.

Some of the green screens were… obvious.

I can’t be the only one a little surprised that they change the way Alina’s power looks every single episode. But hey, screw continuity, at least it looks cool.

No Fedyor and Ivan :(

What the hell was that look between Inej and Tolya in the finale?? What? This is one of the only times I’ll get annoyed with changes from the book. It just seems really unnecessary, why insert more romance when you have such a beautiful love story between Kaz and Inej?

Obviously I’m not the only one wondering what they’re planning with Alina’s dark powers. That just didn’t really make sense, and her smiling made even less sense. Hopefully they’ll explain this if there’s a season 3!

As much as I love that they axed the whole ‘Alina loses her power and settles down with Mal’ ending, I have to say that I didn’t love that they broke up at the end? It just didn’t really make sense to me. So much of the show is focused around their love for each other, and the fact that they’re each other’s homes. That being said, I didn’t hate every aspect of this ending- I didn’t hate that Alina isn’t giving up her seat at the table, and it made sense that Mal didn’t really want that life. So I don’t think this is 100% a Con- it was just a little confusing thematically. It felt like they tried to fix the Ruin and Rising ending and just swung too far the other way.

Overall I’ll always really enjoy this show, it’s really fun to see material from the books onscreen. I had great time watching this season. Do I think this season was great? Obviously not, but clearly my expectations were low enough to begin with that I wasn’t too disappointed. Anyways, let me know if you agree, and if you have anything you’d add!

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